Busted Lip
by MewLuna
Summary: "You didn't know you had a bloody bottom lip?" he asked. His voice was concerned. "Oh crap," she stammered. "How the hell could I miss that?" He offered her a humorous smile. "It's okay." "When I was a kid, I thought scars and bruises were cool." One-shot


**Busted Lip: By MewLuna**

**Disclaimer: I don't own YJ or its characters, just this story plot. Takes place after 'Usual Suspects'. SPOILERS INSIDE!**

**~X~X~X~**

"Here. Souvenir."

He takes the steel-plated mask that belonged to Sportsmaster moments ago. The mask that belonged to her father. But now it's in his hand, it's in his grasp, and she's looking at him with a look he can't really place. "Artemis," is really all Kid Flash can say.

The blond archer turns and looks at her father one last time. She knocked him out cold with a kick. "Let's see how the others are doing," she then suggested.

He nodded. He held onto the mask with one hand and was somehow able to scoop Artemis against his chest with his other arm. She braces against him and holds onto his shoulders. "Hold tight, kay babe?" he asked.

Artemis smiled. "Start running, flash-boy."

He smirked and sped off, never letting go of his new souvenir.

**~X~X~X~**

They're back at the Justice Cave and everyone is in a relatively good mood. Great mood, actually. M'gann, Superboy, or Artemis feel like they have to hide themselves. Everyone is goofing off in the living room/kitchen. Robin and Zatanna are laughing about something while baking a cake, Superboy and M'gann are talking and snuggling on the couch, and Kaldur is trying to get used to the attention Rocket is insistent on giving him.

"Nice tattoos," Wally heard Rocket tell Kaldur. "You know, I like a guy with ink."

The speedster chuckled to himself. He could see his Atlantis friend get a little pink and awkwardly spin this way and that. Wally entered the open kitchen. "What's so funny?" he asked Robin and Zatanna.

The Boy Wonder answered first. "Zee was telling me about the time she, M'gann, and Superboy sneaked into Red Tornado's bedroom."

"Zee?"

"Yeah, it's a nickname," Robin said.

Zatanna smiled. "Only reserved for Boy Wonders. Sorry Wally."

The red-headed young man shrugged. "Hey, whatever. Seen Artemis?"

Robin and Zatanna shrugged. "Nope," the younger boy answered. "So you actually put pants on Red Tornado's android?"

Zatanna giggled. "They were red, too. He totally looked retro cool."

The two started laughing again and Wally decided to leave. He grabbed himself a cookie first, but then he left the two alone. He wandered around the halls of the Justice Cave for a few minutes, absentmindedly looking for Artemis, then decided he'd bump into her later. He made his way to his bedroom.

There she was, standing in front of his tall wooden shelf filled with souvenirs. Artemis was wearing a simple cotton long sleeved top, and a pair of worn-out blue jeans. She didn't notice him come in because her back was to the door. Wally smiled to himself and carefully crept across his soft bedroom carpet.

Closer.

Closer.

_Closer. _

"Hi Wally."

"Nyeh!" he exclaimed in surprise. She didn't even turn around! In fact, her back was still to him! He found his balance again. "How'd you do that?"

Her shoulders slightly raised from a quick spurt of amused laughter. "Your definition of stealth is pathetic." Artemis turned around to face him.

"Oh crap, babe."

"What?" Wally reached out and touched her bloody and busted lip. Dried blood was spotted down her chin and an ugly forming bruise was forming on her bottom lip. "What?" Artemis repeated.

"You didn't know you had a bloody bottom lip?" he asked. His voice was concerned. It was no big deal, really, but he couldn't help but feel some degree of worry.

Artemis took out a pocket mirror she had in her jeans. "Oh crap..." she stammered. "How the hell could I miss that?"

He offered her a humorous smile. "It's okay, really."

She put away the mirror and shook her head. "When I was a kid, I thought scars and bruises were cool."

A red eye-brow lifted in amusement. "Really?" Wally asked.

She nodded. "It made me look tough. Or accident-prone. I didn't really care." And as soon as she finished her sentence, he was doing it again. His elbow was on her shoulder and he was leaning into her. It was a friendly gesture, a comfortable gesture, and she didn't really mind the speedster in her personal space. In this case, she kind of liked it. Just a little bit.

_Slam!_

"Wally!" she exclaimed.

He had somehow smacked a band-aid on her face. "Whoops, missed your lip," he chuckled. The band-aid was on her chin.

Artemis took the band-aid off, giving him a 'watch-it-Wally' look. "A Dora the Explorer band-aid?" she questioned. "Really, Wally?"

He shrugged. "My mom buys the band-aids in our house, okay?"

"So she buys her sixteen year old son Dora the Explorer band-aids whenever he gets a boo-boo?"

"Let's be fair now, Arty, I was fifteen when she bought those."

The two start laughing, and it's loud and musical laughter. It doesn't even bother them with the close proximity, being only a few inches apart. Then green eyes met gray. Smiles slowly go into straight lines. Atmosphere once filled with laughter is replaced by silence.

It's not an awkward silence. The two were a little past awkward silences. They stared into each others eyes not daring to flinch or step aside.

But, of course, one of them had to move, and one of them had to speak. Artemis turned away slightly, turning towards his souvenirs. Wally, never really seeming to stay quiet, coughed and turned in the same direction. Another silent moment passed.

"So... on a scale of one-to-ten, how corny would it be if I said something?" he then asked.

Artemis gave a small smile, shrugging her shoulders. "Dunno, ask me and I'll rate ya."

He turned his head towards her. "You're really brave, Artemis," he said. Wally's voice was sincere, it was serious, and his words had meaning behind them. "Until today, I had no idea about you, or your family, and for you to just... to just come clean today... in front of everyone. Well, that was brave." She finally looked back at him and sat on the shelf, and he unconsciously stood in front of her, leaning, unconsciously getting closer. "And not just telling the team," Wally continued. "Being able to walk away from your dad. Being able to handle the imminent stress and conflict Sportsmaster and Cheshire gave you. I'm sure there were times when you felt like you were better off on their side..."

She gave a small nod. "Not really, Wally. I determined to myself that I would be a hero, I'd be the force that would stop my father and my sister. There were never any feelings of conflict. I knew I wanted to be on your side."

There were several ways she could have phrased that sentence. She could have said the team's side, she could have side the good guy's side, she could have said the Justice League's side. But Artemis said _your_ side. Wally's side.

He acted on instinct, and instinct was telling him to wrap his arms around the blond girl in front of him and hug her. So he did just that, and the smell of vanilla-cinnamon filled his senses. She returned his affection and embraced him as well. Of course he smelled like whatever he last had for lunch, which in this case was pizza.

"Okay," Artemis smiled. "I'm going to have to give you a ten on the corny scale."

Wally chuckled and leaned back to look at her. "It was the hug that did me in, wasn't it?"

She laughed. "Yeah."

"Well, then you can go ahead and give me a fifteen, cause this will break the scale." Before she could as what he meant, Wally swooped in and planted his lips on hers. He could feel the dried blood of her busted lip against his, but he didn't care. His palm cupped her chin and he molded his lips with hers one more time, before slowly easing away.

Artemis was giving him a slight smile and he smirked. Her mouth opened like she was going to say something, but she closed it again. She hesitated, opened her mouth, and closed it again. Finally, she sighed. "Congratulations, Wall-man, you've got me tongue-tied."

He laughed and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Wanna go play video games?" he asked.

She nodded. "Sounds awesome."

**Author's Note:**

**I just need to do a quick fan-spazz. (spoilers) I LOVE ROBIN! And the episode 'Usual Suspects' is my new favorite episode. No offense to ANY Roy Harper/Red Arrow fan, but I don't like him. He was kinda a prick. He just went around accusing others and then it turns out he's the mole. LOL! I knew it. I freakin' knew it. Why? I'm not sure. I just always suspected Roy. Again, no offense to any Roy fans. This is just my opinion. I'm sure there are Robin-haters out there as well. We're all fans of the same show :D**

**Anyway, I just wanted to write this before I tackled 'Running After You'. The wait will be a little long, but it's going to be a LONG chapter. It will take me a week to write. It'll be one of those chapters you sit down with a cup of tea and read XD So please be patient on that. Thanks for reading, please review!**

**~Luna**


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